Monday, May 02, 2005

Drive-By Blogging

My Take on the Twins Stadium Proposal (King Banaiaiaian may use this as a teachable moment if he so wishes):

- The plan calls for a small sales tax increase in Hennepin County.

- I live in Dakota County.

- I almost never go to Hennepin County, so my exposure to this tax is quite limited.

- I will never go see another Twins game in that oversized petri dish called "Metrodome".

- But I would love to go to games if they are played in an outdoor park.

- Assuming that I spend $200 in Hennepin County for each game I attend, my additional sales tax liability would run to about 30 cents per game.

- If I attend 5 games per year, that would translate to $1.50 in extra taxes per year for the next 30 years. The bulk of the taxes would be paid by Hennepin County suckers residents, of which I am not one.

- I am willing to absorb that cost, since it would cost considerably more to travel to Milwaukee to see baseball in a decent atmosphere.

- I have no problem being a shameless freerider.

- THEREFORE: build the damn stadium.

Soda BloggingSome bloggers like to do wine reviews. However, there are many out there that do not like or drink wine. As a service to that segment of the blog-reading population, I offer my review of:

The bouquet is classic Coca Cola: sweet with an overarching impudence to it. The lime fragrance is almost imperceptible.

At first, the cola flavor completely overwhelms any hint of any other flavors that might be present. The lime does come through strong in the middle of the palate.

Despite it's very dark color, I detect no tanins. An amusing surprise indicating that the soda maker possesses a churlish sense of irony.

There is a Cokey lingering aftertaste.

Second sip: it's clear that this particular batch included some of the husks of the cola nut vintage. A faint bitterness arises, but is quickly overwhelmed by the sweetness of corn syrup and the tanginess of the lime. It's a good bet that this specific batch came from the Atlanta region.

Overall Coke with Lime '05 is smooth with a faint lime punch in the middle that fades with the finish. It paired well with my chicken cordon bleu sandwich and fries. Other pairing recommendations: popcorn or tequila.